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48-421: Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers Varnan and Löt drain into the lake. It has a harbour and is a railroad and road transportation center. Nearby towns include Karlskoga and Karlstad and are located exactly in the middle of Oslo , Stockholm and Gothenburg with 250 km to each of them. The location has had a resident population for centuries, at least since

96-841: A Finnish -speaking administrative municipality. Various religious denominations and congregations are based in Karlskoga, including the Church of Sweden , which has several churches in Karlskoga. The oldest church, the Karlskoga Church , is the parish church in the Karlskoga parish and can be traced back to the 1600s. Later churches built in the city include the Karlberg Church and the Rävåsen Church. There are also several free churches represented in Karlskoga. The Swedish Pentecostal Movement has its own church, while

144-502: A bojort , which is a Dutch ship in use in the 17th century. The following sports clubs are located in Kristinehamn: Karlskoga Karlskoga ( Swedish pronunciation: [kaɭˈskûːɡa] ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality , Sweden . Located within Örebro County , 45 km (28 mi) west of Örebro , and 10 km (6 mi) north of Degerfors . With

192-436: A 2020 population of 27,386 distributed over 10.55 square miles (27.33 km ), Karlskoga is the second-largest city in both Örebro County and the historical province of Värmland . Karlskoga straddles the northern shore of Lake Möckeln . Among the city's main topographical features are the two rivers, Timsälven and Svartälven. Other features include an esker , Rävåsen , designated as a nature reserve, and contiguous with

240-469: A character distinct to the company town . Million programme residential buildings can be found in enclaves such as Baggängen, Ekeby, Sandviken and Skranta . The Rosendal neighbourhood, historically significant for the architecture of its homes, planned community by the Bofors Works, was designated as an area of national interest for cultural heritage . Karlskoga's population grew steadily from

288-463: A connection with notable literary figures, including Maja Ekelöf , whose best-selling Rapport från en skurhink was published in 1970. Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf stayed in Karlskoga during her confirmation period with Tullius Hammagren . In her 1925 novel " Charlotte Löwensköld ," she depicts estates and surroundings in Karlskoga. Moreover, children's literature writers Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson are intertwined with Karlskoga, using

336-588: A key role in reshaping the ironworks to a modern cannon manufacturer and chemical industry . During the summers of 1894–1896 he lived in the manor house Björkborn . Even though he died in his villa in Sanremo , Italy and had a home in Paris , it was decided that his legal residence was at Björkborn in Karlskoga, which had been his final residence in Sweden. Because of that it was here his famous testament that

384-704: A policy to end the method in the state. Some American civilizations, like the Maya, have used slash-and-burn cultivation since ancient times. American Indians in the United States also used fire in agriculture and hunting . In the Amazon, many peoples such as the Yanomami Indians also live off the slash and burn method due to the Amazon's poor soil quality . Slash-and-burn techniques were used in northeastern Sweden in agricultural systems. In Sweden,

432-414: A ring of bark completely around the trunk of coniferous trees like pine or spruce or felling them, allowing them to dry, setting fire to the dried forest and growing crops on the fertile ash-covered soil. The resulting ash was highly fertile, but only for a short period. The clearing was initially planted to rye as soon as the ash had fully settled and sufficiently cooled. When the rain came, it packed

480-499: A significant Swedish emigration to North America from the district in the latter half of the 19th century. Stockholm, Wisconsin was for instance founded in 1854 by immigrants from Karlskoga. The city borders on the municipalities of Hällefors and Storfors to the north; Lekeberg to the east; Degerfors and the Lake Möckeln to the south; and Kristinehamn to the west. The many residential communities of Karlskoga express

528-461: Is also a football team called KB Karlskoga FF , and a women's soccer team, Rävåsen IK . Karlskoga is twinned with: Karlskoga also cooperates with: Slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden . The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegetation , or "slash",

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576-629: Is home to several stadiums, of which Nobelhallen is the largest (it hosted the 1979 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships ). Karlskoga is home to the ice hockey team BIK Karlskoga , established in 1978, currently playing as per the 2021–2022 season in HockeyAllsvenskan , the second tier of Swedish ice hockey. Karlskoga also upholds a heritage in diving and canoeing , housing clubs like Bofors SHK and Bofors KK. Notable Olympic champions include Ulrika Knape in diving, as well as Agneta Andersson and Maria Haglund in canoeing. There

624-446: Is most unsuitable for the production of cash crops . A huge amount of land, or a low density of people, is required for slash-and-burn. When slash-and-burn is practiced in the same area too often, because the human population density has increased to an unsustainable level, the forest will eventually be destroyed. Tribal groups in the northeastern Indian states of Tripura , Arunachal Pradesh , Meghalaya , Mizoram and Nagaland and

672-416: Is that 250 million people worldwide use slash-and-burn. Slash-and-burn causes temporary deforestation . Ashes from the burnt trees help farmers by providing nutrients for the soil. In low density of human population this approach is very sustainable but the technique is not scalable for large human populations. A similar term is assarting , which is the clearing of forests, usually (but not always) for

720-404: Is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. Then, the biomass is burned, resulting in a nutrient-rich layer of ash which makes the soil fertile , as well as temporarily eliminating weed and pest species . After about three to five years, the plot's productivity decreases due to depletion of nutrients along with weed and pest invasion, causing the farmers to abandon

768-481: The Bangladeshi districts of Rangamati , Khagrachari , Bandarban and Sylhet refer to slash-and-burn agriculture as podu , jhum or jhoom cultivation. The system involves clearing land, by fire or clear-felling, for economically important crops such as upland rice , vegetables or fruits. After a few cycles, the land's fertility declines and a new area is chosen. Jhum cultivation is most often practiced on

816-577: The Jehovah's Witnesses have their Kingdom Hall . A baptist congregation, the Bofors Baptist congregation, was established in 1884, and St. George's Catholic congregation was established in 1956. There are several cemeteries in Karlskoga. The city's oldest cemetery was likely established when Karlskoga Church was built. North of it lies Skogskyrkogården lit.   ' The Woodland Cemetery ' , inaugurated in 1908. The Eastern Cemetery in

864-583: The Neolithic Revolution , groups of hunter-gatherers domesticated various plants and animals, permitting them to settle down and practice agriculture, which provided more nutrition per hectare than hunting and gathering. Some groups could easily plant their crops in open fields along river valleys, but others had forests covering their land. Thus, since Neolithic times, slash-and-burn agriculture has been widely used to clear land to make it suitable for crops and livestock. Large groups wandering in

912-578: The Nobel Laboratory , the Karlskoga Church , Mässen , and the Bofors Hotel . Karlskoga was initially called Möckelns bodar , Möckelsboderna or Bodarna , being derived from cottages located at the shore of lake Möckeln. The locality's name "Karlskoga" was coined in 1591, and has been in use ever since. It is derived from Charles ( Karl ) IX , with skog meaning woods. Karlskoga and its surrounding area were sparsely populated in

960-708: The Old Norse word sviða , which means "to burn". This practice originated in Russia in the region of Novgorod and was widespread in Finland and Eastern Sweden during the Medieval period. It spread to western Sweden in the 16th century when Finnish settlers were encouraged to migrate there by King Gustav Vasa to help clear the dense forests. Later, when the Finns were persecuted by the local Swedes, svedjebruk farming

1008-473: The city center . The broader Karlskoga area distinguishes itself from its surrounding regions, e.g. the Närke Plain, with its abundant woodlands and hills, which made it better suited for activities beyond agriculture , such as the ironwork industry. Karlskoga evolved around the arms manufacturer Bofors , and by 1970, it counted almost 10,000 employees. The many jobs in the arms industry during

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1056-622: The 1900s multiplied Karlskoga's population. Today, Karlskoga is still a thriving center of the arms industry, but its economy is more diverse than during the peak-Bofors era. Karlskoga is home to the Björkborn Manor , on the property of the Björkborn Works, where Alfred Nobel lived. His residency there is the reason his will was adjudicated in Karlskoga at Karlshall , establishing the Nobel Prize . Other landmarks include

1104-491: The 20th century as a growing company town to Bofors. Only with the demilitarization in the most recent decades has this started to be a problem for the town. There were 8,500 workers in Bofors in 1980, but the number had decreased to 2,600 as of 1998. During the first decade of the 21st century, approximately 1,000 apartments in multi-family buildings were demolished due to reduced demand for firearms products. This resulted in

1152-417: The Amazon, are nutritionally extremely poor, slash-and-burn is one of the only types of agriculture which can be practiced in these areas. Slash-and-burn farmers typically plant a variety of crops, instead of a monoculture, and contribute to a higher biodiversity due to creating mosaic habitats. The general ecosystem is not harmed in traditional slash-and-burn, aside from a small temporary patch. This technique

1200-556: The Stone Age. The town was then built alongside the bridge over river Varnan. Its name was Broo (or Bro) until 1642, and "Bro" literally means "Bridge" in Swedish. Kristinehamn got a royal charter for the first time in 1582 but lost it in 1584, and regained it in 1642, and changed its name in honour of the monarch Queen Christina of Sweden. It thus qualifies as one of Sweden's historical cities . Its city arms were designated with

1248-422: The ash around the rye. The rye germinated and grew prolifically, with anywhere from 25 to 100 stalks (or straws), each with multiple grains. Only two tools were required, the axe and the sickle. The axe cut the trees to start the cycle. When the rye had ripened, it was harvested with a sickle , which could reach among the rocks and stumps where a scythe would have been ineffective. In the second and third year

1296-616: The beginning of the 16th century. It was not until the 1580s that the area started to see an increase in population, when Charles IX made people settle in the area. Ethnic Swedes (people from the historical provinces of Närke and Södermanland ), and particularly Finns , began to settle the area, where they took up the farming method slash-and-burn . They were followed by Huguenots , fleeing religious oppression in France , and by other groups including both Dutch and German settlers, mostly skilled metalsmiths . The parish of Karlskoga

1344-516: The border area, but did not do so because it was judged they were too poor to survive if evicted. This type of agriculture is discouraged by many developmental or environmentalist organisations, with the main alternatives being promoted are switching to more intensive , permanent farming methods, or promoting a shift from farming to working in different, higher-paying industries altogether. Other organisations promote helping farmers achieve higher productivity by introducing new techniques. Not allowing

1392-410: The eastern parts of the city was established in the 1940s. The city is an important center for the arms manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries ; it is home to various multinational corporations, including subsidiaries and divisions of Bharat Forge , BAE Systems , Saab AB ( SAAB Bofors Dynamics ), Nammo , Cambrex Corporation , Recipharm , Moelven Industrier , and Eurenco . Karlskoga has

1440-497: The emergence of both Björkborn Works and Bofors Works. As the owner of both ironworks, Sigrid Ekehielm assumed the leadership of an industrial empire. Most of the original ironworks were still operating in the 1860s, but the dominating ironworks was the one in nearby Bofors . In 1871, Bofors produced 6,124 metric tons of iron , more than any other plant in Sweden. In 1882, Karlskoga parish ( socken ) had 11,184 inhabitants. The town of Karlskoga has evolved around Bofors, which in

1488-482: The field and move to a new area. The time it takes for a swidden to recover depends on the location and can be as little as five years to more than twenty years, after which the plot can be slashed and burned again, repeating the cycle. In Bangladesh and India , the practice is known as jhum or jhoom . Slash-and-burn is a type of shifting cultivation , an agricultural system in which farmers routinely move from one cultivable area to another. A rough estimate

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1536-420: The field would be sown with turnips or cabbages . It then might be grazed for several years before being allowed to return to woodland. Svedjebruk required felling new forest and burning a new area every year. It was necessary to allow the former fields to regrow with forest for 10–30 years before repeating the cycle. As a result, the dwellings were often many kilometers from the fields. Furthermore, since

1584-451: The former field. After a few decades, another family or clan may then use the land and claim usufructuary rights . In such a system there is typically no market in farmland, so land is not bought or sold on the open market and land rights are traditional. In slash-and-burn agriculture, forests are typically cut months before a dry season. The "slash" is permitted to dry and then burned in the following dry season. The resulting ash fertilizes

1632-456: The late 19th century was transformed from an iron works to a manufacturer of cannon and in the 20th century to a more diversified defense industry. Bofors was incorporated in 1873 and has since the 1880s been specializing in the lucrative manufacture of cannon. The most famous owner of Bofors was Alfred Nobel , who owned the company from 1894 until his death in December 1896. Nobel had

1680-420: The population dwindling to 29,600. During the 2010s, however, the population trend reversed, and the numbers began to rise. In 2023, the magazine Fokus ranked Karlskoga as the fifteenth best municipality to live in Sweden. Karlskoga is situated more or less in a low mountainous ridge called Kilsbergen that separates Närke from Värmland . Such areas have traditionally been financially poor. This led to

1728-585: The practice is known as svedjebruk . Telkkämäki Nature Reserve in Kaavi , Finland, is an open-air museum where slash-and-burn agriculture is demonstrated. Farm visitors can see how people farmed when slash-and-burn was the norm in the Northern Savonian region of eastern Finland beginning in the 15th century. Areas of the reserve are burnt each year. Svedjebruk is a Swedish and Norwegian term for slash-and-burn agriculture derived from

1776-481: The process was man-power intensive, extended families tended to work together and live in compact communities. The svedjebruk farming approach required a large area. When forest was plentiful, the Finns were very prosperous. As population grew and restrictions were placed on the forest which could be burned, it became increasingly difficult. By 1710, during the conflict with Sweden, because of their suspect loyalties Norwegian authorities considered expelling them from

1824-427: The purpose of agriculture. Assarting does not include burning. Historically, slash-and-burn cultivation has been practiced throughout much of the world. Fire was already used by hunter-gatherers before the invention of agriculture, and still is in present times. Clearings created by the fire were made for many reasons, such as to provide new growth for game animals and to promote certain kinds of edible plants. During

1872-436: The slashed vegetation to burn completely and ploughing the resultant charcoal into the soil ( slash-and-char ) has been proposed as way to boost yields. Promoters of a project from the early 2000s claimed that slash-and-burn cultivation could be reduced if farmers grew black pepper crops, turmeric, beans, corn, cacao, rambutan and citrus between Inga trees, which they termed ' Inga alley cropping '. A method of improving

1920-427: The slopes of thickly-forested hills. Cultivators cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the land, burning the trees and grasses for fresh soil. Although it is believed that this helps fertilize the land, it can leave it vulnerable to erosion . Holes are made for the seeds of crops such as sticky rice , maize, eggplant and cucumber. After considering jhum ' s effects, the government of Mizoram has introduced

1968-440: The soil and the burned field is then planted at the beginning of the next rainy season with crops such as rice, maize, cassava, or other staples. This work was once done using simple tools such as machetes , axes , hoes and shovels . This system of agriculture provides millions of people with food and income. It has been ecologically sustainable for thousands of years. Because the leached soil in many tropical regions, such as

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2016-489: The time when arms manufacturer Bofors had started to expand, until the 1970s. Thereafter, it underwent a sharp decline (down by almost 10,000 inhabitants over a 30-year period), with signs of recovery only in the very last few years as of 2021. Nevertheless, with 27,386 inhabitants, Karlskoga is the second most populous place in Örebro County following Örebro (126,009). The presence of foreign residents in Karlskoga accounts for 16.5% of inhabitants. This compares with 19.1% in

2064-473: The town as inspiration for fictional characters and locales, such as in the " Bert Diaries ," which were set in the fictional town of Öreskoga . Karlskoga Tidning-Kuriren stands as Karlskoga's primary and sole daily newspaper . It formed through the merger of Karlskoga Tidning and Karlskoga Kuriren , the city's two former daily newspapers, it came into existence in 2020. There is also a commercial radio station based in Karlskoga, Cityradion . Karlskoga

2112-485: The town Örebro. In the 1580s, a total of five Finns settled in Möckelsbodar (present-day Karlskoga). In 1649, 32 of a total of 186 agricultural holdings were occupied by Finns. In 2017, the three most commonly reported ethnic origins (by-birth) overall were Finns (935 or 3.1 per cent), Syrians (650 or 2.1 per cent) and Somalis (409 or 1.3 per cent). In 2012, Karlskoga Municipality received its status as

2160-479: The woodlands was once a common form of society in European prehistory . The extended family burned and cultivated their swidden plots, sowed one or more crops, and then proceeded on to the next plot. Slash-and-burn fields are typically used and owned by a family until the soil is exhausted. At this point the ownership rights are abandoned, the family clears a new field, and trees and shrubs are permitted to grow on

2208-468: Was established in 1586 and a wooden church was soon built. It was small in size, and was solely made up of the sacristy still preserved at this site, which was a consequence of population increase in the years prior. The first priest elected was Olaus Gestricius (herr Olaf på Möckelnsbodar) by the late 1500s. During the 17th century, fourteen small ironworks and eight water-driven hammers for producing bar iron were established. This encompassed

2256-573: Was spread by refugees to eastern Norway , more specifically in the eastern part of Solør , in the area bordering Sweden known as Finnskogen ("the Finnish woods"). The practice also spread to New Sweden in North America. Reinforced by the use of fire in agriculture and hunting by American Indians , it became an important part of pioneering in America. Svedjebruk involved stripping

2304-455: Was written in Paris in 1895 was legally registered, which eventually made it possible to establish the Nobel Prize . In 1940 the town of Karlskoga and the surrounding area (the same territory as today's Karlskoga Municipality) got the formal title of a city ( stad ). Since 1971 this term has no legal meaning and only the built-up area is considered a de facto town. Karlskoga spent most of

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